Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Whoo hoo!! It's my turn to pick a recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie! Awesomeness in a blogger-nerdy-baker happiness sort of way. Know what I mean?!

As you may know, I'm a huge Bundt fan. Huge. I think I've made over 10 Bundts on this blog. The American-made Nordic WareBundt was trademarked in 1950 and is, in my book, an engineering marvel!

Although some people just don't understand this, I love cake but don't care for frosting. And the Bundt? It's perfect. Even if you put a thick glaze on it, the ratio of cake to frosting is just right. And sometimes, it doesn't need any frosting or glaze at all. Yes, the Bundt rocks. Big time. Let's all just take moment to salute the awesomeness of the Bundt. Thanks.

This recipe, on page 190 of Dorie Greenspan's book: Baking: From My Home to Yours is from her friend Ellen Einstein who owns Sweet Sixteenth Bakery in Nashville.

And you know what? Holy smokes!! This is delicious!

I made mine with sour cream, but you can also use plain yogurt. Dorie suggests a lemon glaze but I skipped that in favor of a simple dusting of powdered sugar. I'm sure chocolate chips and walnuts would be nice additions too.

Nordic Ware says there are 60 million Bundt pans in America. We need to get everyone to make this cake!

Thank you everyone for baking along with me this week!I'm excited to see how you liked it and your variations. And if you couldn't make it this time, I hope you try it out in the future. It's such a pleasure to be part of this group! Bake on TWDers! :) - mary the food librarian

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9- to 10-inch (12 cup) Bundt pan. (If you use a silicone Bundt pan there’s no need to butter it.) Don’t place the pan on a baking sheet - you want the oven’s heat to circulate through the Bundt’s inner tube.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas. Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients (don’t be disturbed when the batter curdles), all the sour cream and then the rest of the flour mixture. Scrape the batter into the pan, rap the pan on the counter to debubble the batter and smooth the top.

Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Check the cake after about 30 minutes - if it is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool to room temperature.

If you've got the time, wrap the cooled cake in plastic and allow it to sit on the counter overnight before serving - it's better the next day.

Optional Lemony White Icing:Sift 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar into a bowl and squeeze in enough fresh lemon juice (start with 2 teaspoons and add more by drops) to make an icing thin enough to drizzle down the Bundt's curves.

Half batch or muffins:If you want 1/2 the recipe and make muffins, Dorie Greenspan wrote it up herself on this 2008 entry on Serious Eats: Banana Cake Big and Small. She added some chocolate to this one. Yield 12 muffins, bake 28-32 minutes

Thank YOU for choosing such a great recipe! Yours looks picture perfect - and quite classic! And light.... mine was rather dark-ish. Maybe my bananas were too ripe! Love this recipe -and will use this one from now on - for banana loafs/bread/cake!

Mary, I have to say that went out and bought a bundt pan after seeing some of the wonderful cakes you had made in the past! The first bundt I made was this one. Love it. It's a great cake that I love making over and over again. Fantastic choice!

thank you, thank you, thank you for picking a bundt! (seriously, my heart would sink every month when i would see that no one had chosen one, so you have made me very happy!) yours is, as always, fabulous!!

Awesomeness in a blogger-nerdy-baker happiness sort of way...YES INDEED! Congrats on pciking such a stunning bundt. Yes, you are indeed bundt crazy, & so am I actually. I make your Cinnamon Choc Bundt at least once a week.The kids love it to bits. (Have 1/4 in the frdieg right now). This cake is beautiful & standing tall. Fabulous!!

Mary, I'm waving my bundt cake flag. YAY! Great choice! I do have to admit that I LOVE frosting/icing/glaze! Generally the more the better. What I do love about bundt cakes is that they are much easier than layered cakes and are usually more moist and flavorful!~ingrid

GREAT pick Mary. Loved it! I halved the recipe, did some fun things with it, took lots of pictures, loaded them on my laptop to take out of town with me and post today, then three hours in to driving away, realized I forgot my beloved computer! Sigh!I'll be posting a two for one next week. Can't go wrong with bananas, I say!(I'm realizing lately that I really like bundt cakes, too!)

Yay!! Great pick. I'm definitely making this again when I have my bundt pans. I salute your ode to bundt pans b/c I lack in the cake-decorating skills department and bundt pans make it easy. Thanks again!!!

what a fabulous pick!! i bought a bundt pan earlier this year (because shouldn't every baker have one) and this cake was the first one (and only! ack, need to rectify that!!) i made before i left. i remember it being sooo yummy!! your's came out looking great!!

You are so funny with your comment on my blog about the pan wanting to keep some (mine stuck like crazy but everyone has been generous in leaving me tips, so that was great this week!). Yours looks perfect...absolutely show stopping perfect inside and out. I am going to need to look into bundt cake cooking a little more, because I think these would be great to send in school lunches without the messy frosting, etc. Yep, so going there...just because I don't care for banana in cake, doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other bundt cake flavors, right? Thanks for giving me a chance to learn this week! Again, yours is gorgeous.

Wow, 102 comments for this post!! Hope you're still reading reader's comments for this post.

Anyway, I flagged your post for the Classic Banana Bundt Cake and finally baked the cake yesterday. It was the kind of banana cake that we were looking for!! Thank you and this is also let you know that I blogged about it (Sept 10 post) and attributed my inspiration to try the recipe to you. Feel free to drop by and read about it.

This cake is absolutely divine! I made it this afternoon - it was quick and easy with my stand-up mixer. I added 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 3/4 cup chopped walnuts at the very end. I was tempted to freeze the entire cake for a small gathering in my home two weeks from now, but my little boys had to have a slice before bed. So of course I had to have a taste (just finished off two slices!). So glad to find out about this website- but worried about all the weight gain to come along with it!